When I read Monday’s Page 1 article “Students who lie, cheat, steal still say they’re good,” I was very much saddened. I was more saddened by the fact that these students apparently have no idea about the long-term consequences their actions will have on their future lives. If it were possible, I would have liked to share with them a couple of truisms I learned growing up.

There is an ageless proverb that states, “As you sow, so shall you reap.”

Second, there is an appropriate story from World War II that mirrors the students in your article. The story warns about unexpected consequences. Some schoolboys were returning home on a train for their Christmas vacation. One boy was bragging to the others about the things he had gotten away with during the first semester: cheating on exams, stealing from the dining room, mixing up books in the library. An old man across the aisle said, “I couldn’t help hearing you, and I apologize for interrupting. But as one who wishes the best for you, let me warn you of the `the law of the echo’; what we do to – or for – others has a way of finding its way back to us.”

– TOM HART

Lomita

State’s taxes already high

With regard to California’s budget problems, the legislative Republicans are correct. It will be suicide to raise taxes.

I know that this doesn’t match the modus operandi of the dominant political party, which has so carefully rigged legislative elections to ensure its complete and unchallenged control. Nor will it please the party’s constituents, the public employee unions, which need ever-increasing amounts of public money to be “fair.”

And this doesn’t square with our “politics is easy” bodybuilder/actor/politician, who thinks that the way to get out of every problem is to pick a point halfway between the others and stand there. California already has one of the highest tax rates in the country.

Increasing the taxes will kill off everything except government jobs in the state. (Those will die a little later when no one can pay those high taxes). Government needs to start being efficient and effective about supplying services. It needs to get out of some services altogether, and it needs to start transparent performance measurement in all others.

In every sense of the word, it was a community project. Therefore, I’d also like to say a huge thank-you to those who gave generously of their time, money and donated bikes (many of which were practically new). These people include: Troop 234 adult leaders and fellow scouts, my immediate and extended family, Holy Trinity Parish, friends, residents of Rancho Palos Verdes and especially Tony Jabuka of the Bike Palace in San Pedro, who donated necessary parts and expertise to get all 65 bikes in safe and good working order.

If I learned anything from this project, it’s that cooperation by many was essential in making it a success.

– FREDDIE NADER

Rancho Palos Verdes

Talkers are not reporters

This is in response to Jo Ann Michetti’s letter (Sunday) regarding Dennis Prager’s column titled “How liberals influence our society.” She reacted “with gales of unrestrained laughter” to his question: “Why can’t liberal news people report news without any slant?” I hate to put a buzz-kill on her giggle-fest, but Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh and Bill O’Reilly are not news reporters; they simply comment and express their opinions on current events.

Just because she disagrees with their opinions doesn’t mean they are “spewing poison.” She’s free to turn the dial.

– JOE FERRELL

Manhattan Beach

Voting should be simple

While the recount is going on in the Minnesota Senate race between Norm Coleman and Al Franken, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has said he wants to ensure that no voter is disenfranchised. If people are told when to register to vote and the time frames to vote, and they can’t follow the state’s rules for voting, they are not being disenfranchised if their ballot isn’t counted; they are being disenfranchised because they didn’t take the proper steps to vote. If a person can’t follow the simple rules to register and to vote, I don’t know if any educated person, who has followed the rules, really wants that person to vote.

After watching people in other countries stand in line for hours and face severe hardships to vote, perhaps we should make it more difficult to vote, rather than easier.

– BARRY LEVY

Hawthorne

Brewer could take pay cut

If Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent David Brewer is determined to stay at the helm (“Brewer ouster falters,” Wednesday), he should consider working for one cent per year (as some of the automaker CEOs have pledged). Each man has been taking a large salary to head a floundering organization.